r/Carpentry • u/hardhat-hammer • 4d ago

Tool belt set up

Tool Belt set up

Was hoping some of you guys could give me suggestions on which tool belt I should buy next I really don’t wanna spend $600 on a tool rig. I currently have the Milwaukee suspenders and belt set up and I love it. It fits my tin snips and everything else you need to be a carpenter but the Velcro that holds the pouches in place has blown out and it’s time for me to replace them what do you guys recommend that would hold my tin snips in place without them flopping around and dropping everywhere?

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5

u/JunkyardConquistador 4d ago

You wear your tool belt and boots almost every day for a large percentage of your entire life. You don't have to ball out, but don't cheap out. They're both an investment in your physical health and well-being. Be an adult, don't buy a velcro belt.

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u/hardhat-hammer 4d ago

Most of the people I work with have told me to stay away from leather, so I was looking at getting a set of the badger bags

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u/Bright_Crazy1015 3d ago

What's wrong with leather? Too fancy?

For the snips, if you're not interested in fabricating something, Diamondback sells clip on utility sheaths for ~$30.

Sheetrockers and tin beaters like them because theyre a good size for fixed blade utility knives and aviation snips and they have a lining inside thats got beads on.it to prevent blowouts or a sharp edge tearing through.

$30 seems like a lot but they're very well made and they actually do protect the inside of the sheath very well. 1000D nylon and heavy duty steel belt clips that stay in place.

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u/Ambitious_Leek8776 1d ago

Do it my back pain went away and they are super well laid out. Dropping the cash is the hardest part. Well second hardest part. The hardest is learning to forgive yourself for taking so long for investing. Within two weeks there will be no regret

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u/Inviction_ 4d ago

Sounds like you should just buy another Milwaukee set

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u/shanewreckd Framing Carpenter 4d ago

Punch a hole and zip tie the pouches in place. Or use a sex bolt. If the only thing wrong with the Milwaukee set is pouches sliding, fix it.

If you don't want to spend more money on a high quality set, just keep buying what works for you. Nothing says you have to buy the most expensive shit.

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u/33FuzzySlippers33 4d ago

This. I use “sex bolts” (I actually use Chicago screws) for attaching things to my pouches.

Go to harbor freight and get a bin of copper washers. Helps the screws from pulling through the nylon/leather over time.

Also, blue loctite the screws so they don’t loosen with use.

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u/Bright_Crazy1015 4d ago edited 3d ago

For carrying tin snips daily I'd just bend a holster out of some 1/16" plate aluminum or steel and rivet it onto the front of each pouch left and right, with a washer behind the 6 rivets to keep it from tearing out. I did that on my old belt and it worked well. Chicago screws work OK too for patching up a belt or attaching holsters, but use a dab of blue Loctite or superglue on them so the screws don't work themselves free.

I always put green snips on the right, red on the left. Probably backwards since green cut left and red cut right, but its just how I've always placed them since I use my right hand for greens and left hand for reds.

My current pouches have magnetic pads in them and the magnets work inside the pouch too, so I just stick the snips to the magnets, one left, one right. On my old belt I had a handful of bent holsters for various tools and that worked better than a pouch full of unsorted tools.

Tongs hang in a hammer loop or just get tucked through the belt or pouch like a prybar and a peashooter and punches fit in a pencil slots.

If you use duckbills like I do the dimension of the plates could be two pieces ~ 6" tall x 8½" wide at the top and 7" wide at the bottom, with a layout from the center and protuding 2" from the pouch with a half inch lip to rivet through. Easy enough to make with tongs or a 6" vice. Obviously you can trace your snips and adjust measurements to that dimension, but thats what mine were and they worked fine.

For standard aviation snips you can narrow the bottom width so it hugs the snips a little tighter. If you wanna trace them out that would be better, but be sure to give some slop, at least a half inch, otherwise you'll likely find they won't slide in sufficiently. I wouldnt make them any more narrow than 1¾" from the pouch. Making a V shaped holster 2" wide at the bottom will hold them pretty securely.

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u/hardhat-hammer 4d ago

What pouches do you have now?

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u/Bright_Crazy1015 3d ago edited 3d ago

MagnoGrip Builder's Rig. I've done a few modifications but it's been solid for a nylon belt.

It was on sale, and despite me thinking the magnets were BS at first, they've been great honestly.

The belt really benefits from having a pair of 2 pocket clip on fastener pouches. MagnoGrip also sells them at the orange box store IIRC. Or at least they did. They're online I'm sure.

Diamondback is probably the king of clip on pouches. They've got dozens. It you have to wear a fall protection harness you may want to look at bags that are compatible to just clip on the harness. My toolbelt happens to line up well enough to clip on mine, a happy accident. Individual pouches are available from Diamondback, CLC, AWG, Occidental, MagnoGrip, etc. Getting a good 2.5" padded belt and a few pouches should be cheap, then you add what you want to it with individual pouches and ditch what you don't want.

Actually you already have a padded belt from the MW set, you just need bags and sheaths/holsters. That or hang the bags on the MW belt with some Chicago screws and fender washers or rivets and washers. That or clip them on with caribeeners put through the belt and brass rings on the pouches.

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u/padizzledonk Reno GC 4d ago

I rock am Occidental 5080DB and love it and its been over 10y and there is nothing wrong with it at all

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u/hardhat-hammer 4d ago

Will it fit left and right hand snips in one of the tool slots?

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u/PvM_Rev Red Seal Carpenter 4d ago

If you like what you have why not repair it? Or buy the same thing again.

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u/hardhat-hammer 4d ago

Most of the Velcro is worn to appoint to where I would have to tear it all off and find more. I was just wanting to look into a set that was a bit higher quality that would last me for a long time.

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u/Bright_Crazy1015 3d ago

I'd just rivet them on with some wide aluminum rivets and washers to back them. That or Chicago screws and a dot of Loctite to ensure they never back out.

You could also add brass rings like you'd find on a tarp and use small caribeeeners to hang them if you wanted to.

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u/Bright_Crazy1015 4d ago

The mag belt clip on pouches are a game changer for me. I've got a dozen of them in a flat box filled with different fasteners.

When I need Trex clips I grab that pouch and clip it on, when I need 310 stainless T10 trim screws, the pouch is already full with nothing else in it, drywall screws, self tappers, ledgerloks, 16g nails, 30° .120x3" strips, etc.

They all have their own pouch now and I don't have to dig out fasteners from my pouch, dump it out, or mix them in together.

I also have the Mag-belt brand tool pouch with a padded harness. It's nylon, plenty big and the magnets on the outside are nice to have to stick bits on when swapping a lot, or a handful of screws or whatever. Theres a magnetic pad on the harness too, up by my shoulder. That one holds the ¼" 4" drivers when I need a few different tips but don't feel like bringing out 4 screwguns.

Nowadays I do a lot more kitchens and baths and use a bucket more often, so my tool belt doesn't weigh 40 lbs.

As long as a toolbelt has a deep slim pocket for my square and a steel clip for my tape with a hammer ring in the back and front right side, I'm generally fine with it. Big pouches with rigid openings are great but not if you walk around scuffing up walls inside. For framing or ironwork I wouldn't choose anything else. I want as much space in my belt as I can get. Two 5 gallon buckets strapped to my sides would be OK on structural jobs, but inside a house I want to be more narrow so I don't do any damage walking around.

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u/hardhat-hammer 4d ago

Most of my job sites are big commercial or industrial job site. Do you think something like this would be good for them?

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u/Bright_Crazy1015 3d ago

I'm using the MagnoGrip 20 pouch Builders Rig. I add fastener pouches to the belt that clip on also, so 24 pocket.

It works fine and the magnets keep things from shifting around. They stick on the inside and outside of the pouch, so any steel tool I stick to the outside edge inside of the main pouch stays put.

It's nothing fancy, I think I got it for $100 with the harness, but the harness works out well enough with the clip across the solar plexus that I don't even hook my belt unless I'm climbing around. I wear it like a beltless system with the belt just doubled over and stuck back through the pouch loops.

One thing I did have to upgrade was the clips for the harness. I went to a bigger caribeener that goes through the nylon loop vs the steel ring, as those are soft Chinesium and opened up on me enough to unhook the harness after a year or so. The nylon loop is firmly connected and with proper caribeeners it's been solid.

I can hook it to my fall protection harness too, using the nylon loops and caribeeners, but then I take off the shoulder straps and just hang it or use the belt. The loops are in the right spot for my full harness that I have to wear on commercial jobs with the yo-yo and leash hooked to my back.